The Mission Field needs medical professionals to volunteer on short-term mission teams this summer! Administering health care to people who do not normally have access to treatment is such an essential part of OCMC missions, and your expertise could make a huge impact on suffering people around the world. Won’t you consider volunteering this year to alleviate their suffering?

IndonesiaAssist with the health care outreach at the Theotokos Orthodox Hospital in Medan, Indonesia and be a part of an Orthodox witness in a Muslim nation.

The Berlin Painter and His World Athenian Vase-Painting in the Early Fifth Century B.C. This exhibition of ancient Athenian vase-painting, organized by the Princeton University Art Museum, focuses on the art and career of the anonymous artist known as the Berlin Painter. Visit the museum’s website at: toledomuseum.org for directions and times. http://www.hpsneo.org/programsevents.aspx

Proclaiming 2017 as the “125th Year of Orthodox Christianity in Greater Chicago,” the region’s ruling bishops have endorsed a historic celebration to take place on Saturday, September 30, 2017. Sponsored by the Orthodox Christian Clergy Association [OCCA] of Greater Chicago, the commemoration will include the celebration of a Pan-Orthodox Hierarchical Divine Liturgy at Lane Tech Auditorium, followed by an anniversary banquet at the Chicago Marriott O’Hare, 8535 West Higgins Road, Chicago.

“Even Tears Were Not Enough” is the second documentary by John Righetti and Maria Silvestri. It features scholars and survivors telling the story of the forced deportation of Poland’s Carpatho-Rusyn population by the Polish Communist government in 1947.

The story of the destruction of the community, called Lemkos in Poland, has rarely been told. “Today we can’t event conceive of a state moving tens of thousands of people hundreds of miles away from their home with no notice and the world standing by,” said John Righetti, one of the producers. “But population relocation at the end of World War II was not uncommon. What makes this situation distinct is that the purpose was to dissipate the Lemko Rusyns in a way to absolutely destroy their culture through assimilation.”

The body of the stylite, ambiguously depicted as both person and object, is an image whose currency intersects Byzantine literature, art, and architecture. It continues to speak to us through the extant Lives and homilies composed about and by these stylites, as well as on clay tokens that were received as blessings by pilgrims. It was even an extension of and subsumed into the monumental architecture surrounding it. This traditional session of papers focuses on one stylite, Symeon the Younger (d. 592), whose legacy had lasting importance in the Byzantine world but whose literary tradition and monastery on the Wondrous Mountain near Antioch have received only preliminary study (van den Ven 1962, Djobadze 1986, Déroche 1996, Kaplan 2002, and Millar 2014). The four papers provide a sharper focus on the saint as well as a panoramic view of the Wondrous Mountain within Byzantine society. They clarify Symeon the Younger as a historical figure by examining the saint’s self-presentation in his sermons and the architectural development of the Wondrous Mountain during his life. They also illuminate ongoing engagement with his cult by prodding the growth of traditions pertaining to the mothers of stylites as well as the reception of the Life of Symeon the Younger in later texts.

The Stephen and Catherine Pappas Patristic Institute of Holy Cross Greek Orthodox School of Theology is pleased to announce a “Symposium on Creation and Ecology: Insights from Patristic and Contemporary Christian Sources”. This symposium is a unique opportunity to hear from our four keynote speakers and panelists about various ways the Patristic Tradition can be in conversation with scientific discoveries, cosmology, and our ecological realities. The symposium will also include more recent contributions of Christian theologians and leaders, including especially the untiring work of His All Holiness Patriarch Bartholomew of Constantinople.

This event is open to the public. Please indicate whether you plan to attend by going to the Symposium’s webpage at http://www.hchc.edu/patristics/conferences/ to register. Attendees may purchase lunch in the campus cafeteria. Please indicate whether you plan to have lunch on campus or not when you register.

We are honored to have as our keynote speaker this year His Eminence, Archbishop Michael of New York and New Jersey. Other speakers will include: Fr. Moses Berry, Fr. Jerome Sanderson, Mother Katherine, Fr. Alexii Altschul

This conference will examine the theology, history, and purpose of the diaconate, both male and female. It will include four sessions: the present state of the diaconate; ways men and women are engaged in diaconal service today; the current challenges and future possibilities of the diaconate; and the opportunities to engage with both clergy and faithful on rejuvenation of the male and female diaconate for the building up of the body of Christ.

His All Holiness, the Ecumenical Patriarch has given us his blessing to conduct a conference on ecology in his honour. A SACRAMENTAL APPROACH TO ECOLOGY will be a pan-religious gathering. While organised and sponsored by the Monastery, one session will be hosted by and at TRINITY WESTERN UNIVERSITY in Langley, B.C. The dates of the event are 6-7 October. On the 6th, the Monastery will host a round table discussion, MC’d by Steve Bynum, the producer of Worldview on the American National Public Radio system. On the 7th, the session will be at T.W.U. Further information and details will be published in the first week of September.

The theme for this year’s Benefit is “Come Let Us Worship”. The concert program will consist of hymns and liturgical songs from different Orthodox Christian traditions.

The choir is composed of more than 40 volunteer singers from several Orthodox Christian parishes in southeastern Michigan. It is directed by Victoria Kopistiansky, choir director at Holy Trinity Orthodox Church, Detroit.

Sponsored by the Council of Orthodox Christian Churches of Metropolitan Detroit (COCC), in partnership with Cass Community Social Services, the concert will support charitable endeavors provided across the region by the respective organizations. This concert will open the COCC’s 60th anniversary year.

With the blessing of His Eminence Metropolitan Nicholas, Locum Tenens of the Greek Orthodox Metropolis of Chicago, the holy relic of the right hand of Saint Spyridon of Trimythous will be available for veneration, in honor of the parish’s 100th anniversary. His Eminence, Metropolitan Nektarios of Corfu, Paxoi, and the Diapontia Islands will head the delegation accompanying the relic.

The public is invited to attend the various services that will be celebrated in conjunction with the visit of the relic.

Veneration of the holy relic will begin at 7:00 p.m. on Wednesday, October 11 with the reception of the relic and the celebration of Vigil.

On Thursday and Friday, October 12-13, veneration will begin at 7:30 a.m. The Paraklesis to Saint Spyridon will be celebrated both mornings at 11:00 a.m., while Vigil will be celebrated both evenings at 7:00 p.m. Veneration will end at 11:00 p.m.

On Saturday, October 14, veneration also will begin at 7:30 a.m. Orthros and the Divine Liturgy will be celebrated at 8:00 a.m., while Great Vespers will begin at 7:00 p.m. Veneration will conclude at 11:00 p.m.

On Sunday, October 15, Orthros and the Hierarchical Divine Liturgy will be celebrated at 8:00 a.m. Veneration will conclude at 1:00 p.m.

October 11, 2017 @ 8:00 pm – 10:00 pmManos Hadjidakis was one of the most important Greek composers of the 20th century. Internationally acclaimed, he won an Academy Award for best original song for the title song for the film Never on Sunday. Much of his music comprises songs whose lyrics come from the verses of the greatest Greek poets of the century, including Nobel laureates Odysseus Elytis and Giorgos Seferis. All arrangements are original and are designed to bring out the subtleties, beauty, and idiosyncrasies of the… Find out more at http://concertfix.com/tours/tribute-to-manos-hadjidakis

MIGRATION + MEMORY: JEWISH ARTISTS OF THE RUSSIAN AND SOVIET EMPIRES from the Vladimir and Vera Torchilin Collection. Curated by Anna Winestein

This exhibition will feature approximately 100 works drawn from the Vladimir and Vera Torchilin Collection that explore the creative responses as well as historical trajectories of Jewish artists born, trained, or active in the Russian as well as Soviet Empires in the 20th century. The exhibit is structured around the themes of migration and memory that are central to the Jewish experience in this period. It is curated by Ballets Russes Arts Initiative’s Executive Director, Anna Winestein.

The works in the exhibition carry a complex legacy of opportunity and suffering, cooperation and hatred, inclusion and alienation. The opening of the show coincides closely with the centenary of the October Revolution of 1917, which transformed the landscape of choices and options for Russian Jewry, including artists, in many positive ways, while also bringing enormous displacement and violence. In total, it will present the creations of nearly 50 different artists: paintings, drawings, prints, posters and illustrated books, as well as three-dimensional objects, some created within the territory of Imperial Russia or the Soviet Union, and some created after the artists had emigrated to Europe or the United States.

Vladimir and Vera Torchilin moved to the US in the early 1990’s, and after the fall of the Soviet Union were successful in bringing out a large portion of their collection, to which they have continued to add voraciously. Their collection is primarily focused on Russian and Soviet artists–not all of Jewish heritage–but also includes works by Europeans and Americans.

Anna Winestein is an historian of art and theater, an independent curator, and a cultural entrepreneur. She is Executive Director and co-founder of Ballets Russes Arts Initiative (BRAI), and previously served as Creative Director for the Hermitage Museum Foundation. Click here for Anna’s full biography.

Vasileios Marinis investigates what the Byzantines believe happened to the soul after death and until the final resurrection and Last Judgment using liturgical, theological, literary, and material evidence. For more information: https://maryjahariscenter.org/events/death-and-the-fate

The gathering affords clergy wives from all jurisdictions an opportunity to grow in their faith, meet one another in fellowship, worship with the monastic community, and learn from the guest speaker.

The theme of this year’s retreat, “Truth in Our Inward Parts,” will be developed by Presvytera Juliana Honeycutt. A licensed and National Board Certified mental health professional who holds her Master’s in Marriage and Family Therapy, she specializes in women’s issues, especially related to holistic health and life in the Church. Since 2007 she’s offered small groups, workshops, and lectures for churches, therapists, and clergy throughout the country. In addition to her psychotherapy training, she has seven year’s experience as a fitness director/personal trainer. She approaches health and healing through a holistic lens of spirit, mind, and body and with her seminary training from Reformed Theological Seminary, she offers a deep quality of spiritual care integrated with knowledge of the clinical sciences. Also, she is part of a planning committee for the Clergy-Couple Care Ministry of the Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of America. She and her husband currently live in Muskegon, MI, where her husband is the priest at Annunciation Greek Orthodox Church. They will be relocating this summer to Bloomfield Hills, MI, where her husband will be the priest at Saint George Greek Orthodox Church.

A Sacrifice of Praise: Liturgy, Prayer, and Hymnody at the Center of Faith and Life, featuring Susan Ashbrook Harvey, Brown University and Margot Fassler, University of Notre Dame

Villanova University has enjoyed a national reputation through its Patristic, Medieval, and Renaissance Conference (PMR) for over thirty years. Finding its natural niche and center in philosophy and theology, but extending from there to embrace a wide variety of disciplines in the field, the PMR has established a tradition of scholarship and collegiality complementary to, rather than in competition with, the larger conferences such as Kalamazoo, the Oxford Patristics Conference, or the Medieval Academy.

The conference has met a need in the academic community for working space. According to founding director Thomas Losoncy, the conference was always intended to be a place where scholars come to roll up their sleeves, to work through new ideas, to experiment and push the envelope in their various fields. The PMR’s legacy is archived in a long-running series of published proceedings, from the early 1970s through the 1990s, testimony to its consistent success. For more information:https://www1.villanova.edu/villanova/mission/augustinianinstitute/conferences/pmr.html

Arabic is commonly seen as the language of Islam, and the Qur’an has long been viewed as the first book to have ever been written in Arabic. But there were Arabic-speaking Christians long before the birth of the Prophet Muhammad, and for much of the medieval period, the Middle East was a largely Christian region. In this lecture, I will discuss the status of Arabic as a Christian language, focusing especially on the question of the Bible in Arabic. Was there a pre-Islamic translation of the Bible into Arabic?

Orthodox Christian Women of Michigan (OCW) will sponsor a panel discussion on “Orthodox Parenting”. Sharon Gomulka of Holy Transfiguration will be the moderator. This panel discussion will be of particular interest to parents, grandparents, godparents,church school staff and church youth workers.

The panel discussion is open to all members of the public. Refreshments will be served.

Papers are welcome that consider biblical, patristic, later Byzantine, modern and contemporary angles on the topic. Our speaker this year for the Florovsky Lecture will be Very Rev. Dr. John Erickson of St. Vladimir’s Seminary. The lecture will be delivered the evening of Friday, October 27 and is open to the public. Register online now

His Grace, Bishop Paul of Chicago and the Midwest will be among the speakers at the 30th Annual Conference of Orthodox Christian Laity [OCL] on Saturday, October 28, 2017. Bishop Paul will update participants on the work of the Assembly of Canonical Orthodox Bishops of the United States of America.

Other speakers include Father Frank Marangos, Former Dean of the Greek Orthodox Archdiocesan Cathedral of Holy Trinity, New York, NY; Former National Director of Religious Education and Executive Director of Communications for the Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of America; CEO and Founder of OINOS Educational Consulting; and Managing Director of O’Mara Ferguson, who will speak on “Finding Our Voice: Orthodox Leadership for the 21st Century.” Father Hans Jacobse, Pastor of Saint Peter Antiochian Orthodox Mission, Ft. Myers-Naples, FL, Editor of the Orthodoxy Today web site, and Director of the American Orthodox Institute, a research and educational organization concerned with cultural and moral issues of the day, will speak on “The Challenge of Secularism in the Local Parish.” “Religious Pluralism, Fundamentalism and Contested Identities in North American Orthodox Christian Religious Life: The Case of the Greek Orthodox Church in America” will be the topic of a lecture by Dr. Frances Kostarelos, Ph.D., Professor of Anthropology and Sociology, College of Arts and Sciences, Governors State University, Chicago, who has written on issues related to religion and served as a consultant for the Greek Archdiocese.

Accommodations are being provided by the Spring Hill Suites by Marriott. Detailed information and registration forms are available on-line. For more information: ocl.org/

The biennial National Clergy Retreat is one of the most important ways the Archdiocesan Presbyters Council (APC) fulfills that vision and mission through refreshing, renewing and recharging the clergy of the Archdiocese of America, and through them the Church, ministries and families they serve and love. For details and to register visit apc.goarch.org/retreat.

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Upcoming Events

The Mission Field needs medical professionals to volunteer on short-term mission teams this summer! Administering health care to people who do not normally have access to treatment is such an essential part of OCMC missions,

The Berlin Painter and His World Athenian Vase-Painting in the Early Fifth Century B.C. This exhibition of ancient Athenian vase-painting, organized by the Princeton University Art Museum, focuses on the art and career of the

Proclaiming 2017 as the “125th Year of Orthodox Christianity in Greater Chicago,” the region’s ruling bishops have endorsed a historic celebration to take place on Saturday, September 30, 2017. Sponsored by the Orthodox Christian Clergy

“Even Tears Were Not Enough” is the second documentary by John Righetti and Maria Silvestri. It features scholars and survivors telling the story of the forced deportation of Poland’s Carpatho-Rusyn population by the Polish Communist

United States Session Title: Views To and From the Wondrous Mountain (Panel 3A) Session Date: Oct 6, 2017 (2:30 PM – 4:35 PM) For more information: https://sites.google.com/a/umn.edu/bsc2017/registration The body of the stylite, ambiguously depicted as

The Stephen and Catherine Pappas Patristic Institute of Holy Cross Greek Orthodox School of Theology is pleased to announce a “Symposium on Creation and Ecology: Insights from Patristic and Contemporary Christian Sources”. This symposium is